New Mexico aiming for $1 billion slice of federal rural health care fund - Dan Boyd, Albuquerque Journal
New Mexico expects to find out by the end of this year whether its application for $1 billion in federal funds to expand health care access in rural areas over the next five years is approved.
But top state officials say the funding, even if it’s secured, won’t make up for an estimated $8.5 billion in decreased federal funding for food assistance, Medicaid and other programs over the next 10 years.
The state Health Care Authority submitted its application for a slice of the $50 billion rural health care fund in advance of a Nov. 5 deadline to do so. It hired the Virginia-based company Guidehouse to help craft its application.
Specifically, the state’s application calls for received funding to be spent on expanding New Mexico’s rural health care workforce, improving access to care for rural patients and supporting the financial sustainability of rural health care providers.
The $50 billion rural health fund was included in a federal budget bill signed by President Donald Trump in July. Half of the total amount will be distributed equally to all states with an approved application, with the remaining $25 billion set to be distributed at the discretion of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
While Democrats criticized the rural health care fund as a “slush fund” intended to win the votes of Senate Republicans, the CMS said this month all 50 states submitted applications for funding.
“When every state steps up to strengthen rural health, it shows the true character of our nation,” said U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “Rural families have been left behind — driving hours for care or going without it entirely. This program restores fairness and brings quality health care back to every American community.”
However, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s administration has warned that six to eight rural hospitals in New Mexico could close over the next several years due to other provisions in the federal budget bill, particularly those affecting Medicaid.
State health officials have also predicted nearly 90,000 state residents could lose health care coverage, while more than 250,000 residents could face new co-pays and increased administrative hurdles to remain enrolled.
Given that backdrop, state Health Care Authority Secretary Kari Armijo told legislators that any money received from the rural health care fund will only partially offset what the state is preparing to have to absorb.
“It will not replace the amount of federal funding that will be lost through those other changes,” Armijo told members of the Legislative Finance Committee during a recent meeting.
New Mexico has struggled for years with a health care provider shortage, especially in rural parts of the state.
The state is projected to have a doctor shortage of more than 2,100 physicians by 2030 and all but one of the state’s counties — Los Alamos County is the lone exception — are considered to be health professional shortage areas, according to the nonpartisan Cicero Institute.
While final funding amounts from the rural health care fund are expected to be announced after Dec. 31, New Mexico’s application could be hampered by the state’s approach to interstate medical compacts.
That’s because one of the criteria the federal government will use to score states’ applications is whether states are members of interstate medical compacts for doctors, nurses, psychologists, physician assistants and emergency responders.
New Mexico is currently only a member of one such compact — the one for nurses — and legislation approving the state’s membership in other compacts stalled in the state Senate during the final days of this year’s 60-day legislative session.
Legislation dealing with the interstate medical compacts was left off the agenda of two special sessions called by Lujan Grisham this fall, but is expected to be included on the governor’s to-do list for the 30-day session that begins in January.
By the #s: New Mexico mentions in recent Epstein email release - Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
A recently released trove of thousands of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s emails offer glimpses into his time in New Mexico, including the prominent people he invited to his home here and when he scheduled visits.
The United States House Oversight Committee released more than 20,000 pages of records earlier this month amid a renewed push to share with the public more about the disgraced financier with longstanding ties to elected officials, business leaders and celebrities, including Former President Bill Clinton and President Donald Trump.
That release included more than 2,000 thousand emails Epstein exchanged between 2009 and 2019. Several dozen mention New Mexico or related phrases, according to Source New Mexico review, including in news articles or from Epstein himself.
Epstein bought a 7,500 Santa Fe-area property called Zorro Ranch from former Gov. Bruce King in 1993.It was sold at an undisclosed price in 2023, four years after Epstein’s death in custody awaiting federal sex trafficking charges.
According to court documents, the ranch, which has its own airstrip and helipad, was the site of sex trafficking, including by Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted in 2021 as Epstein’s co-conspirator.
The emails show Epstein invited prominent figures—none of whom have been accused of any crimes associated with Epstein— including author Deepak Chopra, linguist Noam Chomsky, billionaire Tom Pritzker, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and filmmaker Bill Sieger, to his ranch at various times. It’s unclear from the emails whether any of those people took him up on his offer, though one email from Epstein to Chomsky asks if he wants to “visit again.”
The emails also show Epstein scheduled visits to the area, including for about two weeks in August 2016 and between Feb. 24 and March 1, 2017, following visits to New York and Paris.
In addition to the emails, other released documents mention former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, including an excerpt of a draft article about Epstein, which Semafor confirmed came from journalist Michael Wolf. In the excerpt, Wolff recounts asking Richardson at lunch how he knew Epstein.
“Jeffrey,” Richardson replied, according to Wolff’s telling, “is the biggest landowner in New Mexico.
In addition to efforts by Congress to release more Epstein files, two New Mexico state lawmakers have announced plans for a truth commission that will seek to document abuses and gather testimony from victims, witnesses and perpetrators in a series of public hearings.
Reps. Marianna Anaya (D-Albuquerque) and Andrea Romero (D-Santa Fe) told an interim legislative committee in early November that the commission will cost about $2 million, with funding from an untapped revenue source dedicated to helping victims of sex trafficking. Lawmakers from both parties said they approved of the commission and urged the lawmakers to follow leads wherever they take them.
Two New Mexican attorneys general have opened previous investigations into Epstein’s activities in the state: Hector Balderas’ criminal investigation in 2019 closed within the year without filing any charges. In 2023, current Attorney General Raúl Torrez investigated the role financial services companies played in failing to identify the abuses at the ranch.
Sunport launches ABQ FlySide pass for visitors to experience airport amenities - Natalie Robbins, Albuquerque Journal
If spending time at the airport sounds like your kind of fun, Albuquerque has some exciting news.
The ABQ FlySide visitor pass, introduced Tuesday by the Albuquerque International Sunport and the city of Albuquerque, will allow visitors to drop off travelers at the gate and explore the airport’s shops and restaurants past the security checkpoint without flying.
To get a pass, visitors must apply via the Sunport’s website. Passes are granted up to a week in advance and on the day of the visit, Sunport officials said in a news release.
“Our airport isn’t just about departures and arrivals — it’s about the experience,” the Sunport’s Acting Aviation Director Manny Manriquez said in a statement.
Pass holders must go through airport security just like ticketed passengers and cannot bring any airport contraband, including liquids that violate TSA rules, according to the Sunport website. Anyone visiting the airport via the FlySide pass must also have a valid passport or REAL ID-compliant driver’s license.
The pass is free, airport officials said, and is only available for visitors age 18 and up for the time being due to federal restrictions. Pass holders must use airport parking like regular travelers, Sunport officials said.
“Airports used to be places where anyone could meet their traveler at the gate, and visitor pass programs — now used at more than a dozen airports across the nation — help bring back a bit of that nostalgia and connection,” said Sunport spokesperson Diana Lopez in a statement, adding that the pass will allow family members to escort elderly or special needs travelers all the way to the gate.
Sunport businesses will offer 10% off purchases for both ticketed passengers and FlySide pass holders every Saturday in December, the news release said.
The Sunport is still undergoing a massive $90 million renovation that began in 2022, which has so far added food and drink options and is improving airport infrastructure and accessibility.
The Washington Post ranked the Sunport No. 7 on its list of the 40 best airports in the United States in June, for its Southwestern character and functional design.
“We want all New Mexicans to enjoy the place that travelers from around the world are already celebrating,” Lopez said.
Santa Fe tackles rental rates with first-in-US minimum wage approach - By Susan Montoya Bryan, Associated Press
Santa Fe has long referred to itself as "The City Different" for its distinct atmosphere and a blending of cultures that stretches back centuries. Now, it's trying something different — something officials hope will prevent a cultural erosion as residents are priced out of their homes.
It's the first city in the United States to directly link wages to housing affordability, aiming to counter high rents by tying minimum wage increases to consumer prices as well as fair market rental prices.
Many see the new ordinance as a big step forward for workers, but Mayor Alan Webber also sees it as an important tool for addressing an affordability crisis that threatens the very fabric of Santa Fe.
"The purpose is to make a serious difference in assuring that people who work here can live here," he said. "Santa Fe's history and culture is really reflected in the diversity of our people. It's that diversity that we're trying to preserve."
Santa Fe is not alone. Rising rents and housing prices have squeezed households nationwide, leaving many with less income to pay for other necessities. Experts say the financial pressure on renter households has increased compared to pre-pandemic conditions.
How the ordinance works
Santa Fe's minimum wage will increase to $17.50 starting in 2027. The annual increase historically has been tied to consumer prices, but going forward a new blended formula will be used to calculate the annual increase, with the Consumer Price Index making up one half and fair market rent data making up the other.
There's a 5% cap in case costs skyrocket, and if consumer prices or rents tank in any particular year, the minimum wage will not be reduced.
Santa Fe first adopted a living wage in 2002. The ordinance has been expanded over the years and the mission this time was to deal with median housing prices and rental costs that were far above any other major market in New Mexico.
University of New Mexico finance professor Reilly White presented the city with 25 years of data that showed changes in fair market rents and consumer prices. He said people earning minimum wage were falling behind.
"It became clear that any index that was made had to be duly weighted in favor of some of this real estate side and some of the cost of living side," White said.
Crafting the ordinance was like threading a needle, the mayor said, explaining that the aim was to benefit workers while not overly burdening the mom-and-pop shops that are the backbone of Santa Fe's economy.
Who benefits
About 9,000 workers will see a bump in wages once the ordinance kicks in. That's about 20% of the city's workforce.
Diego Ortiz will be among them. The 42-year-old father has called Santa Fe home for nearly three decades, working construction jobs to support his family.
Choosing between paying rent, buying groceries and helping his children is a constant worry. He also talked about wanting his children to be able to focus on their studies. His son is having to delay school so he can work and save money, he said.
"If there's economic stability where we can get a good wage with the sweat of our brow, then we're going to be able to pay our rent, pay our bills, or get a house," he said. "Our families will be better and that will be a big change."
According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, the lowest income renters are disproportionately Black, Native American and Latino.
"Raising the minimum wage is an important thing to do in terms of affordability. Certainly part of the problem is an income problem," said Dan Emmanuel, a senior researcher with the coalition. But he also warned that raising wages wouldn't address affordability for seniors or those with disabilities who are not part of the workforce but make up a large share of low-income renters.
More tools
Providing an income boost to a subset of the population also won't necessarily resolve the underlying shortage of housing that's driving up prices overall, said Issi Romem, an economist and fellow at the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at the University of California-Berkeley.
That's why Santa Fe officials say they're working to permit more homes and apartment units.
On the edge of town, leasing flags whipped in the wind Wednesday as construction crews were busy building new complexes with adjacent swaths of dirt cleared for more. Mayor Webber said the uptick in permitting already is paying off — rental prices grew by just 0.5% this year.
Santa Fe also is counting on revenue from a so-called mansion tax, which targets home sales over $1 million, to fuel a trust fund for affordable housing projects.
Webber said the stakes are high and the city must tackle affordability from every angle.
"Can the people who work here afford to live here?" he asked. "Can we keep Santa Fe diverse? Can we continue to be 'The City Different' in spite of the economic pressures that are at work?"
Legal challenges to Project Jupiter funding meet headwinds
Algernon d’Ammassa, Albuquerque Journal
In Santa Teresa, construction is rapidly moving forward at the site of a planned data center campus supporting AI technology.
Meanwhile, $165 billion in industrial revenue bonds and other public incentives authorized by Doña Ana County commissioners supporting the project are facing legal challenges and criticism from a government transparency watchdog group.
In court, the county is seeking dismissal of two lawsuits requesting judicial review of the industrial revenue bond ordinance, and the community organization Empowerment Congress of Doña Ana County has withdrawn as a plaintiff in one of the civil complaints at the request of its nonprofit corporate parent, the Community Action Agency of Southern New Mexico. The CAA adopted Empowerment Congress nearly a decade ago.
CAA also confirmed that Empowerment Congress director Daisy Maldonado, who had worked for the organization since 2019 and was a vocal opponent of Project Jupiter, is no longer an employee. CEO Dawn Hommer emphasized that CAA has not taken a public position regarding the data center.
“This has been an extremely difficult year for nonprofit organizations like ours,” Hommer said. “We want to focus on keeping our doors open so we can provide direct services to New Mexican families.”
Maldonado did not respond to queries from the Journal.
The CAA board of directors first learned of Empowerment Congress’ litigation through news reports, Hommer told the Journal. As the lawsuit had not been authorized by CAA, she said Maldonado was directed to remove the organization from the lawsuit, although the employees named as individual plaintiffs were free to continue.
“After waiting a week, our attorney had to intervene,” she said.
The commissioners voted 4-1 in September to approve the historically large industrial revenue bond sale after weeks of local controversy ranging from opposition to the project to complaints that questions about water consumption, carbon emissions and other impacts had gone unanswered.
Town hall meetings leading up to the vote featured contentious debate between opponents and skeptics on one side and, on the other, boosters highlighting economic development and potential revenue for local infrastructure.
Weeks later, opponents filed two court petitions in New Mexico’s 3rd Judicial District asking for a review of the ordinance, claiming it was not lawfully enacted by the commissioners.
Empowerment Congress filed one of those petitions, along with organizers Vivian Fuller and Jose Saldaña. They also asked for a review of commissioners’ approval of Local Economic Development Act funding for the project, arguing Project Jupiter was not legally eligible.
Las Cruces resident Derrick Pacheco filed a petition of his own arguing that commissioners acted improperly in approving the bonds while the project’s land-use authorization was pending before the county Planning and Zoning Commission. He also challenged the basis for approving the ordinance despite some documentation being missing from the commissioners’ packets — an issue that had been raised in public session by Commissioner Susana Chaparro, who voted against the measure.
In a motion requesting dismissal of the claim, the county says Pacheco, a non-attorney representing himself, invoked the wrong legal procedure for challenging an ordinance and, in any case, did not cite a legal error in the IRB’s passage.
The Fuller/Saldaña petition seeks a declaratory judgment invalidating the IRB ordinance, but in court filings the county calls it “an improper attempt to use the courts to halt legislation they dislike.” The county argues that the ordinances only incentivize economic investment in the community and no actual injuries resulting from the ordinance had been presented.
“The Ordinances do not authorize construction, emissions, water usage, or operations,” the county stated in a motion filed Nov. 20. “Every alleged harm to the Plaintiffs depends on future action by both the applicant and other government entities.”
The Fuller/Saldaña lawsuit has been assigned by the state Supreme Court to state District Judge Jennifer DeLaney from the 6th District, after the 3rd District judges recused themselves or were excused. Pacheco’s case appears to be on a similar course.
FOG flags open meetings law
The New Mexico Foundation for Open Government, a nonprofit that advocates for government transparency and state sunshine laws, sent notice to the commissioners that, in FOG’s view, the county had not sufficiently cured a violation of New Mexico’s Open Meetings Act at the September meeting.
At the Sept. 19 session, Chairman Christopher Schaljo-Hernandez made a motion to go into closed session without clearly stating what was to be discussed outside of open session. The law requires a public body to state the topic of discussion and the legal provision permitting the closed-door discussion “with reasonable specificity.”
In response, the New Mexico Environmental Law Center submitted a notice of violation, initiating a 15-day window for the county to cure a violation, if it occurred, and avoid litigation.
At a subsequent meeting on Oct. 14, the commissioners voted to approve a retroactive clarifying statement about the motion to go into closed session, stating that the information discussed was “covered by attorney-client privilege pertaining to threatened litigation concerning Project Jupiter.”
“This type of attempted retroactive ratification of a prior illegal action by a public body is prohibited by (the Open Meetings Act), and the Board’s violations of OMA with respect to the closed meeting on September 19, 2025, remain uncured,” FOG Legal Director Amanda Lavin wrote to the commissioners.